Blogging Break

Due to some personal issues right now, I'm taking a break from the blogging world. My faith right now is taking a huge hit, so please, pray for me. I'm not sure when I will be back, but I will be back at some point. Hopefully sooner than later. You all will be dearly missed.

weekend recap

Well, this past weekend didn't start off on the greatest note.

Friday morning after I ate breakfast, my stomach started to feel really bad. I ended up leaving work shortly after lunch, and spent the rest of the afternoon in bed, sick. When I finally crawled out of bed around dinner time, I was still exhausted and tired. Needless to say, no work got done on my course assignments. Stephan ordered me to bed early.

Saturday, on orders of Stephan, I slept in. Not much argument there! I managed to eat a little toast for breakfast, and managed to get a little cleaning done. After that, we headed out the door. We had plans to buy a tv for the guest bedroom, and Game of Thrones season 1 for Stephan. We were able to find both, plus a dvd player for the guest bedroom as well. By the time we got home, it was almost dinner time. I worked on my essays for awhile, and then we started to watch Game of Thrones. I had never seen it, and Stephan loves it. Well, needless to say, I got HOOKED and we watched 6 episodes and stayed up a little too late!

Sunday was church, and than more work on my essays. We finished off the rest of the evening by watching the rest of Game of Thrones, and, all excited to catch the start of the 2nd season......we discovered that we don't get the channel!! BOO! I'll have to see if there is someplace online I can watch it. Fingers crossed!!

How was your weekend?

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Happy Wednesday everyone!  I'm linking up with Jamie for What I'm Loving Wednesday!

I'm loving how great this week has started!

I'm loving that Stephan's new Social Insurance Number came in the mail on Monday...it makes it that much more official that he is now going to be here permanently.

I'm loving the care package I received from my parents on Monday, full of goodies like spices for baking, chocolate, a purple scarf and coffee, plus a really nice note from them :)

I'm loving the cute new collar I got for Anna yesterday (forgive the photo, she wouldn't hold still for me, this is the best I could get by holding her down)

weekend recap

This weekend was busy!

I was still sick all during the week, fighting a cold into the weekend.  I also had had a headache since Wednesday that would NOT go away. 

Friday after dinner I just crashed.  I had tried everything to get rid of the headache, and my throat killed (I was losing my voice), so I just slept until I needed to drop Stephan off to meet a friend.  I watched Coyote Ugly, and than back to bed for me.

Saturday was busy!  In the morning I had a music seminar at our congregation in Chestermere, which went until noon followed by lunch.  After that, I headed back to Calgary do flowers for the church altar at my congregation.  By the time I finished everything and got home it was 4pm.  Which left just enough time to finish the dinner in the slow cooker (that I had started in the morning before I left).  I spent Saturday getting some stuff done for work, so that I could concentrate on my course on Sunday.

Sunday was church, followed by a long nap because I was exhausted, AND, it was the first day since Wednesday that I DIDN'T have a headache!  I spent the rest of the night getting research done for my assignments in my course. Woohoo, FUN.  Not so much.  I have 2 essays due, small ones, but I'm struggling to pinpoint the main idea of the essays.  Hopefully I can soon, because I'd like to finish them by the end of the weekend.

Here are some pics of the altar flowers I did:

Happy Friday!

Well, I don't have much to report for this week, nothing really exciting or out of the norm. Except that Stephan was scheduled to work in Calgary this week, so he was home every night, which was a nice treat for us. :)

My "not feeling well" from last weekend dragged into this week. I started to feel exhausted and low on energy Tuesday, and on Wednesday when I woke up I started to lose my voice again. But my energy was good, so I thought "Ok, maybe the cold is over and the voice is just an end result", because I felt good all day. And then yesterday...not so much. Yesterday was hard, I was feeling exhausted, sore and tired by the end of the day. I debated about not going into work today, and resting, but I decided to drag my butt into work and finish the week.

This weekend will be busy though, I have to get a lot of work done on my course, finish researching for my essays and start my essays. I also have some things for church on Saturday: a music seminar in the morning, and doing flowers for the altar after that. But Sunday should be not so busy, maybe a nap is planned for then??

What are your plans for the weekend?

Weekend Recap

This weekend wasn't too eventful.

Friday night was quiet, we stayed in and watched some TV and I worked a bit on my course.  Like I said, not exciting at all.

Saturday I slept in until 9am, which for me is quite late.  I think I would have slept in longer, but Anna was demanding her breakfast at that point.  We made some eggs for breakfast, and I got a little cleaning done around the house while Stephan started the laundry (can I mention that I LOVE that Stephan does the laundry....because I really hate folding it).  I had been struggling with a headache on and off since Wednesday, and it was bothering me again Saturday morning so after I finished cleaning I layed down for a short nap, and than woke up and got ready to go out for St. Patty's day/Stephan's friend's birthday.  We were at an Irish pub, we went quite early (3pm) because of how busy it was.  I didn't stay too late, until about 8pm, only long enough to have a drink, some food and socialize.  What was really nice about Saturday was a friend showed up who I hadn't seen in AGES, and who was supposed to be working up north in Fort McMurray until Thursday but got off for the weekend last minute.  I was so excited to see her, and even more excited to find out she has 10 days off now (she usually works 10, and then is off for 4), so we made plans to get together this weekend.  I left the pub, did some grocery shopping and headed home.  Stephan stayed longer at the pub.  I spent the rest of my night working on my course,

Sunday morning was church, I was called last minute to play for the choir (we rotate between me and another organist), as the organist scheduled had to cancel.  I did a few errands after church, including some shopping for myself - I had wanted some new tank tops, but couldn't find any.  I did, however, get 2 really nice tops on clearance for $9 combined, and splurged on a nice scarf to wear with them.  I was really tired again, had another headache, so I took a long nap in the afternoon.  After dinner I did more of the same...studying and watching some TV.

And that was it!  How was your weekend?

And now, catching up with the rest....

Saturday I slept in a bit while Stephan went out for coffee with a friend from work. We didn't do too much, I did some groceries to prepare for Monday (I was having a staff meeting at my house, we made it a German-night and so I had lots of cooking to do), as well as some cleaning. We had some spaghetti for dinner, and watched a couple of movies .Sunday I had church, and the rest of the day was spent finishing the last of the cleaning. I did some baking for Monday, and rolled the rouladen so they were ready to go. I got some work done for church, and some work done on my course. Monday was BUSY. I was opening the school so I could get out earlier in order to get home and cook the rest of the food. So that meant I started at 7am, PLUS I had to also drop Stephan off downtown at his work. I was up before 5am, so that I could brown the rouladen in the pan, make the gravy and get it all in the slow cooker. I finished work at 4, and headed home....I still had Maultaschen soup, spaetzle noodles, potatoes and a salad dressing to make. It was a lot of work, but all in all everything turned out great. They all loved the food, and there was barely any left overs for Stephan. The ONLY reason there was some left is one of the girls had a pipe burst in her apartment, and was unable to make it.

The rest of the week is just catching up on studying...I started my next course this month, but the beginning of March was so busy that I just got a little behind. There's no exam for this course, but that just means the assignments are going to be a lot more work. Which is fine with me, I always do better on assignments than exams. :)

Trip to the border

WOW, things have been crazy busy since Friday!  Let's get you updated a bit!

Friday I finished work around noon, picked Stephan up and we started the 3 hour drive down the border.  Everything worked fine, we got the confirmation letter stamped and signed, along with his passport and his new PR card should be arriving in the mail in 8-12 weeks.  So its official, he's here permanently and he can't be sent back to Germany. WOOHOO!

I should note that on the drive to the border, there were wind warnings of 100km/h + !!  It was VERY windy.  Stephan had been creeping up on the speed every once in awhile, and I was uncomfortable (from my back when I fell down the stairs the weekend before) and sitting on two pillows, one underneath my butt, and one behind my back (everybody should drive like that, its so comfortable).   I had been warning Stephan to slow down SEVERAL times. 
 .......well, guess what happened?  That's right, we got pulled over.  The cop walks up to the car, sees its not me behind the wheel and makes a comment.  Turns out Stephan was going 28km over the speed limit (see, I warned him!!!).  He started asking us where we were going in such a hurry, and we explained the situation.  Than he just started chatting, asked us where we came from, when we moved from Ontario, why Stephan left Germany (duh, ME!), how long we've been together, etc.  He told us about how he and his wife left Eastern Ontario and moved out here.  Then he looked over at me, asked what book I was reading and started suggesting other books by a different author on the same topic.  He stops mid-sentence, looks at me again and asks "What's with the pillows???!"  And so I had to explain to the cop why I have pillows.  And with that, he told me to be Stephan's cruise control, told Stephan to slow down and let us go.

WEIRDEST conversation with a cop. 

We got back to Calgary around dinner time and celebrated by going to the Keg. And me, not liking any of the seafood or chicken options on the menu, ordered and ate my first steak in 14 years.  And I liked it, it was just a lot to handle for my poor tummy.  (Just to make clear, I liked steak I just didn't like hamburger or anything else, so I cut it out along with the rest).  I'd eat it again.  Steak the odd time, or a pot roast.  But I still wouldn't go back to eating it all the time, and I still have no desire to eat hamburger.  But that's another story for another day.

BIG relief for both of us that this immigration process is over. :)

PR card Friday!

Tomorrow is the day. I finish work at 11:30 so that we can drive 3 hours down to the U.S border to get Stephan's permanent residence approval letter stamped, and get his PR card in the mail. An appointment at the immigration office here in Calgary was a 6-8 week wait, and his letter is only good until the beginning of April. Plus, his work permit expires on March 19th so we need to get that letter stamped before that, or renew his work permit. So down to the border we go!

I spent the last few days obtaining and organizing the documents that we need for the border. I love the area down south where we will be driving, near Waterton Park (which I love, and I'm hoping we'll stop in at on the way home!!). But I'm also a little worried about how my very sore and bruised back will take the 6 hours of driving. Its much better than it was on Sunday, but its still not the most comfortable and very tender.

THAT being said, we are both VERY excited to have this ordeal over. Once we get that stamp, his PR card should arrive in the mail in 6-8 weeks. Finally!!

weekend recap

I know I'm a day late with this post again, but I had quite a bit of stuff to get done for work last night, so it kept me pretty busy.

Friday night was quiet. We stayed in, watched some TV. I baked a cake for Stephan's friend's birthday coming up the next day. Other than that, nothing exciting.

We met with our Lawyer Saturday morning to discuss the next steps. He gave us the official approval letter for his permanent residence, and we had two choices to get that letter stamped and get his PR card in the mail - 1.) we could phone the immigration office here in Calgary and make an appointment or 2.) we could drive 3 hours south to the border. Well, we tried the immigration office, but there is a 6-8 week wait and the problem with that is that they only gave us until April 3rd to get this approval letter stamped. Add to that that his work permit expires March 19th, and you can figure out pretty quickly that we can't wait that long. So we decided that on Friday, I will finish work at lunch and we will head down to the border and get it done right away.

After the lawyers, we stopped to pick up a present for Stephan's friend. Around 6, we headed to the party. For me, it was not so great. Getting changed in his friend's bedroom for the hot tub, I came out and fell down the stairs (which were wet). I gashed my elbow open pretty bad, and my back and butt are pretty bruised. HUGE bruises, I look like someone beat me with a baseball bat! :( And I was not the only victim of those stairs, 4 other people fell down them too. It's very painful right now, I bruised pretty deep I think. Sleeping is the worst, because its just sore everywhere. I can't sleep on my back. And sitting on the couch can get sore pretty quick. Sitting at the kitchen table is ok however! I'm hoping it gets better a little bit each day.

Understandably, Sunday was quiet for me. I took it easy, tried not to move around too much. I reviewed my materials for my next course, which is starting now. We watched some random movie we bought and took a chance on (Cyclops), which was disappointing. You win some, you lose some right? Sore and tired, I was in bed before 9.

Not my best weekend.

How was yours??

BIG NEWS!

We got word from our lawyer yesterday that Stephan's application for his Permanent Residence card has been approved!!! So we meet with the lawyer on Saturday, to go sign documents and to figure out what we have to do to get his card now.

YAY!! HUGE HUGE HUGE relief for both of us! We are both very happy and excited! :)

weekend recap

I know this is a bit late, but I was busy with some paper work last night and just didn't get around to blogging.

Friday night was quiet, as usual. We just hung around and watched TV.

Saturday I slept in for just a little bit, and than got ready to go to a church congregation event. Some friends from church were celebrating their daughter's first birthday, and she is oh so adorable! I meant to bring my camera, but I forgot it at home :( so I have no pictures! But it was so adorable watching her eat her cake (she was very unsure about it at first!) and open presents - she had to inspect and read each card, piece of clothing, and boxed toy! And she had a blast ripping the tissue paper out of the bags and throwing it on the floor.

It should also be noted that I should not be allowed to buy baby clothes along....I really had to control myself not to buy every cute, adorable dress or outfit I saw. It was so hard to choose!!

After the birthday, I headed out to do some grocery shopping since Stephan had sweet-talked me into making the long-ordeal of stuffed peppers, so that he could eat left overs for Sunday. Nice me, I agreed to it.

Sunday was quiet, I had church in the morning and than a nice, long, lazy nap after. I did a little house cleaning, and then we heated up some leftovers while we watched The Oscars (which we both thought was a little boring this year, and not that exciting).

How was your weekend?

It's Friday!

YAY! I made it, you made it! It's the weekend!

Wishing you all a wonderful and safe weekend with your loved ones! Happy Friday everyone!

This is why I have Stephan...

It's amazing how a phone call with the man you love can fix everything!  After venting and complaining on the phone to Stephan, I feel a lot better.  My confidence and ego is a little less bruised, and I'm feeling less doubtful about my capabilities.  I know this happens with everyone throughout their career.  But I feel a lot better about getting through it knowing I have a man who loves me, supports me, and believes in me by my side.

When it comes down to that, what else matters?  That's what's really important.  As long as I have that, nothing else matters :)

Sorry for the emotional post before!  Sometimes, a girl just needs to vent a little and get it out of her system.

Plagued by doubts

Do you ever have one of those days where you wonder if you've made the right choices in life?  If  you really should be doing what you are doing?  I am having one of those days.  I love kids, I love music.  I love doing both and combining them.  I'm good at both.  I'm human, I have my days where its more trying. Working with 30+ kids is not always the easiest job, but I try hard to always do my best and I really enjoy my work.  Its the other part I'm not good at.  Politics, irate parents, sticky situations.  I'm good with kids.  I'm not always good with adults.  Don't get me wrong, I'm a very social person and I like to be around people.  Its just sometimes I'm not always...eloquent in talking to people, sometimes I'm awkward.  I try not to be, but often it just ends up making it worse.  Sometimes I think I expressed or explained something well, and it turns out I didn't.  I'm working at becoming better at this, but sometimes its more difficult. 

Days like today make me wonder as much as I love music and teaching, if I can handle this aspect of the job for the rest of my career.  Right now, I don't think I can. Days like today crush my ego and my confidence.  It makes me wish I wasn't as sensitive as I am, that I had a thicker skin.  Days like today make me regret being talked out of working with animals in order to go into a career of music and teaching.  Don't get me wrong, I loved my time at university as a music student.  Its what came after that hasn't been as fun.  You see...animals don't judge you.  They aren't as complicated as people.  I can be myself around animals, and will always be understood.  You know, that 100% unconditional love. There are less "sticky and awkward" situations.

I think a lot about a career change sometimes.  But here in Canada, its so hard to switch careers without going back to school again, something I don't want to do. Here in Canada, you study and become SO SPECIALIZED in your field that it makes you unqualified for everything else.  You need a degree or diploma specific to what you want to do, in order to work in that field.  Right now, the only thing I could change career wise without going back to school would be to work a minimum wage job or work as a waitress. 

As much as I love what I do, I don't know if I can handle the politics of my field for the rest of my career.  I'm plagued by doubts, and I feel as if I'm stuck at a dead end.  There's also the thought that if I switch careers, I feel like I wasted my university education.  The guilty feeling of all that money spent and than not using it professionally....

At least, its a short work week and there are only two more days left until the weekend.  And on the positive side, Stephan comes home from work tomorrow.  At least I know with him, that I have that unconditional love despite my flaws, and support in whatever decision I make.

weekend recap

No, I am not writing this late! It was a long weekend here in Canada for us :) YAY!  Stephan and I both had the day off of work yesterday :)

(P.S the boys got home safe on valentines day, but they didn't get home until 11pm!  However, they arrived safe and sound, so that's all that matters :) Sorry I didn't update on that!  It was just really busy after they got back, and than I got into our long weekend and got lazy with the blog.....its a bad habit of mine!

Friday was quiet, we sat around watching TV.

Saturday we slept in and had our usual pancake breakfast.  We ran a few errands which included a stop at Willow Park Liquor store (a HUGE store here in Calgary that has almost anything you want that you can't find at other stores) to grab some Rum cream for me (think Baile ey's but made with RUM! YUMMY!) and a birthday gift for Stephan's friend.  We grabbed some groceries and picked up a baby-shower gift for a friend, Vanessa's, baby shower.  Stephan headed out down-town with his buddies for the evening, and I rented the newest Twilight movie on TV and relaxed with a glass of wine.

Sunday was church, followed by Vanessa's baby shower.  I have to say, that little girl is going to be loved and spoiled! After I got home from the baby shower, Stephan and I decided to catch a movie at the theater (this is becoming more common since we can no longer rent movies from Blockbuster now that they have closed forever *sad face*).   We caught the late show for "Safe House", and we both really enjoyed the movie :)

Monday we slept in again.  Once we finally decided to stop being lazy we headed over to Walmart and bought a book shelf we had been eying.  The plan is to buy 2 of these bookshelves to put on either side of the matching TV-unit.  Currently we have bought just the 1 bookshelf, which does not match our current bookshelf and TV unit.  So we put it up in the office.  Once Stephan got it built, I got to work on organizing.  I was able to unpack of all the boxes in the office, as well as 6 boxes of books in the basement.  The only boxes remaining are box each for my piano and oboe music, as well as the box containing all the tools for my reeds for my oboe.  It feels so much better to have all the boxes unpacked, and no clutter.  I can see the floor! And it actually looks like a room now.  What didn't really go on the bookshelf is in a bag in the office, until I can get a desk and/or other storage to put them away.  Satisfied with our productiveness, we grabbed some pizza for dinner, watched a movie and than watched our Monday night shows (while I got some paper-work done for work).

How was your weekend?

My Valentines Day:

Was supposed to be Stephan coming home, with a fellow crew member (who had to drive an additional 3 hours home from Calgary, but would be staying with us 2 nights due to some errands he had to run here in Calgary) to me making them a delicious dinner.

Currently:  dinner is on the stove, almost done.  And the 24 foot crane truck Stephan and his crew were driving broke down in the middle of a major highway about an hour north of Calgary, and they are stranded and waiting for a tow-truck.   (Is there even a tow-truck BIG enough to tow a 24-foot crane truck??).  And we had a big snow storm today, so the roads are not the greatest. Who knows what time he will be back.  Who knows if he'll even make it back tonight.

I'm REALLY worried, for Stephan AND his crew.  I hope they are all safe.  I hope they get home safe.  And I hope they get home as soon as possible.

.....what do I do with the dinner on the stove?!!

weekend recap

Well, my weekend was quiet, Stephan was away. Friday night I spent in by myself, just watching some TV, resting and eating pizza. I stayed up a bit too late watching movies (oops!), and so I slept in quite late on Saturday. YAY for Saturdays!

I lazed around the house, had a late breakfast and did some cleaning. Then I headed out the door and did a little shopping, there was a sale at Ricki's and I picked up a few tops :) I also grabbed some bedsheets from Ikea for the guest bedroom. I came home, did some laundry and lazed around in front of the TV again. I washed the new bedsheets and went to put them on the bed, and discovered there was a huge rip in the seam of one of the pillowcases! :(

Sunday was church, and then after church I went with a friend back to Ikea to return the bedsheets, grabbed some lunch and then went to the mall because I wanted to grab a new pair of jeans from American Eagle. I grabbed a different set of bedsheets from Walmart, and headed home to wash them and put them on the bed.

How was your weekend?

Stephan comes home tomorrow! And it means I get to cook for company too, as one of his friends on his crew is from Medicine Hat (3 hours from Calgary) and has errands to do in Calgary on Wednesday. So it doesn't make any sense for him to drive home 3 hours, only to drive back 3 hours to Calgary the next day, so he'll be staying the night with us. Any excuse for me to cook for people, and I'm happy!

ok girlie

ok Adele, I LOVE YOU.......but............chewing gum at the Grammies?? REALLY?!! Not very classy, IMO. This is a big, very formal and fancy event and you are sitting there, getting up for your acceptance speech and smacking your gum?!!!

Just my thought.

Random Saturday night thoughts

• Sometimes I don't mind if things get messy, because it means I can sit there and re-organize and re-categorize to my hearts content
  
• I want to be a house-wife, from the 50's and 60's....just so I can wear those gorgeous dresses and shoes!  Plus, I know all the music (I grew up on oldies, and have more oldies cd's than anything else), I love the cars, and I collect the classic movies.  Huge fan!  I was totally born in the wrong decade :(  If I had lived in the 50's, I most likely would have learned to Jive.  Oh how I wish I could Jive!!!
  
• I'm borderline obsessed with Lady Antebellum right now...I have their newest CD, and I listen to it almost every day.  I'm so obsessed that Stephan lets me know when they have specials or concerts on TV so I can watch them.  They are coming to Calgary in March, but the tickets are quite pricey.  I keep hearing all these people who are coming for the Calgary Stampede's centennial celebration this year, and I'm hoping that Lady A will also be one of those acts so that maybe I might have another chance of seeing them....and maybe less expensive!
  
• Today, I navigated Glenmore trail in Calgary by myself, without fear, without a GPS, without getting lost or going the wrong way on Glenmore trail.  Glenmore trail always has a lot of accidents, and the ramps on and off are HORRIBLE (I swear, they are the worst ramps in the world!), and so I generally just avoid it.  Plus, I don't know that road well, which is another reason for avoiding it.
  
• I hate driving downtown! Sometimes, it goes ok, IF I've been to the place a few times and I know where I'm going.  But if its someplace NEW....oh boy!! My GPS fails downtown, loses reception all the time and all I hear is "re-calculating", "re-calculating" and then its saying I'm driving down a street I'm not actually on.  And then I drive around in endless circles, usually because construction closes roads.  And oh, the one way streets! Combine construction, and one way streets, and sometimes its IMPOSSIBLE to get where you need to go. So then I get frustrated and l leave to go home...or try to.  If I'm really upset, sometimes I get flustered and then get lost trying to GET OUT of downtown.  I know, its sad.
  
• Anna eats:  the soft part of pizza dough (cooked), ham, apple crumble cake, the apple crumble cake dough batter, ranch dip, eggs, and Maultaschen - a german soup (she eats all 3 parts: the ground meat/spinach filling, the cooked egg dough, and the soup broth).  Weird?
  
  

Question to my readers?

So we are decorating the guest bedroom and getting it ready for some guests coming from Germany this spring and summer. We've already started with a few simple things like the duvet cover, and the TV unit. But there's much more to be done.

I have a before picture ready to post, but before I do I thought I would ask you guys how I should do my posts on the decorating?

Option A: I just do one post at the end, showing the before and after; the complete final project done.

Option B: step-by-step, where I do posts with each step in the decorating process.

What would you prefer to see? Let me know!

(P.S I'm am RIDICULOUSLY excited to be decorating!)

weekend recap

cFriday night after work we grabbed some Wendy's to eat, and then headed out to see "The Grey" (starring Liam Neeson) in theatres. I have to say, it was good but it definitely made me jump a few times!

Saturday we slept in a bit, and did some light cleaning around the house and some laundry. We grabbed a few groceries, and lazed around for the afternoon. We had plans to go to The Keg for dinner that night, in celebration of our Anniversary this coming Thursday - 3 years!! (Stephan will be out of town for the actual day), however we couldn't make reservations, and it was an hour wait to get in. So we went to Boston Pizza instead. Stephan promised that when he gets back from this shift, we'll go to The Keg on a weeknight when it's less busy and when we are allowed to make a reservation. After dinner we cuddled up on the couch and watched a movie, where I promptly fell asleep (I was REALLY tired all day, even after a nap. I was so tired I could barely eat at dinner! weird??).

Sunday I had church in the afternoon, and then I did a little shopping after. Stephan liked my plans and budgeting for the guest bedroom (except for the fact that he really doesn't want to paint, so that subject is still up in the air), so I grabbed a few things. We had agreed to put off getting a new frame and headboard for the bed, so instead I grabbed a bedskirt to hide the old medal frame we currently have. I also grabbed the duvet cover, and a few decorations for the bedroom. Photos to come!

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. I did a little baking (I baked the german apple crumble cake again, I had to use up some eggs and the apples), and then I made us dinner - Maultaschen, a German soup and a family favourite. Of course, Stephan watched the Superbowl in the background. I spent a few hours after dinner getting some things ready for my lessons at work this week, and then relaxed in front of the TV for a bit before bed.

How was your weekend?

Who, me?!

• Who hauled a heavy box with a TV unit from the car to inside, and up the stairs to the guest bedroom, because she was too impatient to wait for her boyfriend to bring it in for her? ME

• Who opened the box and started to put the TV unit together? ME.

• Who thought I was going to injure myself? Stephan.

• Who put it together by herself, no mistakes, and no damage to herself or the TV unit? ME.

• Who then rearranged the bedroom furniture herself to fit the TV unit in its proper spot? ME.

• Who was impressed and proud over their girlfriend's handiness? Stephan.

• Who's a little over-excited about decorating the guest-bedroom? ME!!!!!!!!!!!
  (can you tell??)
  
  

Weekend recap

Well, this weekend wasn't really much of a weekend for me.

Friday night was quiet, Stephan was gone for work still so it was just me.

Saturday I had to go into work to get a few things done. It was only supposed to be for 3 hours, but it ended up being 6 hours. But oh well, that's the way it goes sometimes. After work I ran a few errands and grabbed groceries and headed home, and then cleaned the house until 7pm. I know, fun eh? I made a late dinner, and watched some TV.

Sunday was church. I ran around after church checking out prices for decorating our guest-bedroom, I'm trying to establish a budget to go over with Stephan and see if my vision is realistic!
I layed down to take just a short 3o minute nap, set my alarm....but my alarm failed to go off and I slept for 2.5 hours! OOPS! But, I've been running behind on sleep all week (last week was just crazy busy!) so I guess I needed it. I got some paper-work done for work, and made dinner. I tired a new recipe. I had bought some fresh-made ravioli with spinach and cheese, and I tried this homemade tomato-basil-and-cream sauce I found here, and it was DELICIOUS! Definitely something I'm going to make again. My next step is to try to make the ravioli myself! I spent the rest of the night relaxing for a bit.

How was your weekend??

I'm looking forward to Stephan coming home tomorrow! :)

It's Friday!!!!

YAY!! This week has been a long week, and I'm exhausted.  I had my exam Wednesday for the course I was taking, yesterday we took the kids at the pre-school on a field trip (and with 30+ children, it keeps your hands full!!), and we are getting ready for a government inspection to be accredited at my work anytime next week or the week after, for which I have to work late tonight.  So, it will be another long day today, but I am SO looking forward to the weekend.  I might have to work a bit on Saturday, but that's ok.  I can still sleep in.

My next course doesn't start until March 1st, and it will take about 4 1/2 months (although I have up to 6 , months to complete it), however, there is no exam for this course!  3 essays worth 30%, 30% and 40%.  So that will be nice.  I'm looking forward for the break from some course work.  It means I'll have time to read for myself, I won't have so much work to do during the week AFTER I finish my job each day.  It means I'll have time for hobbies like the big painting I have planned for our living room wall.  Oh, and starting to set up the guest-bedroom and do some work in the living room!

The end of the week also means Tuesday is that much closer, and Stephan will be home.  Its supposed to be his 2nd last shift up north, and we will both be glad when he's back to his regular work week: 4 days on, 3 days off.  It means he will be home every weekend :)


What are your plans for the weekend?

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Today, I'm linking up with Jamie for What I'm Loving Wednesday!


I'm loving that I wrote my exam today for the course, and now am DONE my course!! ...until the next one starts in March (but there's no exam for that one, woohoo!!).

I'm loving that the exam went well, and I'm feeling really good about it.

I'm loving the sweet text message I got from Stephan today wishing me good luck :)

I'm loving Anna, who is being super cuddly these last couple of days since Stephan went back to work yesterday (she misses him, and misses the attention of having someone home during the day.

I'm loving the cute positions Anna curls up when she goes to sleep....she looks pretty funny sometimes!

German Apple Crumble Cake

This past Thursday evening I tried a new recipe.  Stephan had been asking and hinting for awhile for me to make a German Apple Crumble Cake, and I had finally got the recipe from someone.  So I tried it, since the recipe looked pretty simple.  And it was VERY easy to make!  Not complicated at all.  This is another traditional German recipe from Stephan's childhood.  And according to Stephan's verdict, I aced it on my first try.  Its very simple, not overly sweet and DELICIOUS!  I would definitely make this again.  Anna even approved...she licked the dough off of the bowl (she worked her way all around the rim), she loved the soft little pieces we broke off for her (the soft part under the top crust), and licked our plates clean after we were done.

weekend recap

This weekend was quiet, I spent it with Stephan just enjoying his time off together. He goes back to work tomorrow, and has 2 shifts remaining up North. After that, he'll be back for his regular work week and home every weekend. YAY!

On Friday we had planned to see a movie. We had been wanting to see the new Underworld movie (we love that movie series!), and the newest one was out in theaters on Friday in 3D. So we looked it up, but it was almost $20 each to see the movie, which we both thought was way too expensive. So we decided to see Contraband with Mark Wahlberg. It was a really good movie, one we both agreed we would buy. We saw the early show, so we came home in time to watch Grimm on TV.

Saturday we slept in a bit. We ran a few errands, and grabbed some groceries. I made us a lunch, and we did some cleaning around the house, and laundry (very exciting!). We grabbed some dinner, and spent the night watching some movies and having a few drinks.

Sunday I had church in the morning. I picked up Stephan after church, and we ran a few more errands after church. We needed to drop off our recyling at the bottle depot and pick up something from Stephan's work downtown. We also stopped by Jysk to grab a duvet that was on sale. We are slowly starting to finish decorating and organizing the house, and the duvet was for the guest bedroom. We have a friend of Stephan's, and his wife, coming from Germany at the end of May, so we want to have the guest bedroom done by then. We also want to work on organizing and setting up the office, as well as getting our living room put together. The rest of Sunday was lazy.

How was your weekend?

Weekend recap

Hello all you fine people! It feels so good to get back into the swing of things, back into a routine! That, and Stephan comes home tomorrow...and I'm trying 2 new recipes. I love cooking :) Especially when one is a slow-cooker recipe, YUMMY!

Also, we're at the beginning of a VERY cold spell. It was -28 degrees Celcius today. I feel bad for Stephan, it was -39 degrees celcius 8 hours up north where he was working. These cold days are supposed to continue all week.

Back to the weekend recap. My weekend was pretty quiet. I ran a few errands after work, and then came home and had some dinner. I rented a movie on TV, The Help, which I loved! I thought it was a great movie, and I enjoyed it with a nice glass of wine.

Saturday morning I got up, slept in a little later than planned. But I got ready, and went off to church to do flower altar decorations. It was the first time I got to do them since I moved out here from Ontario, and I really missed it. I just didn't have the opportunity in my old congregation, but here in my new congregation I do :) My first time that I was supposed to do flowers was actually back in November, but that was right at my worst days of the laryngitis I had.

This is how they turned out:

sacristy flowers

altar flowers - left side

altar flowers - right side

altar flower - both sides together :)

The rest of Saturday was spent doing a bit of shopping. I didn't really buy anything for myself, but I checked out a Home Sense store since they are supposed to be cheaper then Bed Bath & Beyond. And they were! They also had a lot more decorative stuff for the house, so I'll have to keep them in mind. The only thing is is the closest one is about 25 minutes from my house. So its a bit of a hike, those trips will have to be planned. I spent the rest of the day being lazy, relaxing and avoiding house chores.

Sunday was church, and I grabbed some groceries on the way home from work. I've planned a nice new slow-cooker recipe to make tomorrow for when Stephan gets home from work, as well as a German cake he's been wanting me to make (its one of his favourites). I did a few chores, planned some things for work and watched my Sunday evening shows :)

How was your weekend?

Holiday recap #1 - christmas baking results!

When I disappeared (hey, Stephan was home for 3 solid weeks and I was feeling lazy), I left off with getting ready to bake cookies on the weekend. Just to warn you, this post is a lot of pictures...and you might be hungry and craving cookies by the end.

I made 3 different kind of cookies.

1.) Rumballs
My mom's rumball recipe is not baked, and does not contain cake in it. It is pure chocolatey goodness, and since its not cooked off (and we double the rum) the alcohol is still in it. YUMMY. This recipe needs to be made the night before and refrigerated overnight until its solid. It will look like this when you take it out the next morning:


Next, you pick your toppings...I do the same as my mom: red sprinkles, green sprinkles, rainbow sprinkles, ground walnuts and sweetened shredded coconuts.


Then you take a spoon, scoop out a little of the chocolate mix and roll a small ball in your hands, and then roll it in the topping of your choice. Place on wax paper in a container and continue on until done! Oh, and make sure you eat a few as you go. That's a must. Product control, right? They look like this when they are done:


2.) Nussgipfel
These are little croissant cookies dipped in icing sugar and vanilla sugar, and filled with a sweet walnut filling. They change from region to region in Germany, you can also use hazelnuts for filling. My family has always used walnuts. And we make them smaller than they usually are. I didn't take pictures of rolling out the dough and placing the filling in the center of the squares (I should have, I'm sorry!), so I'll have to start with how they look after you roll them. Mind you, I'm not the greatest at rolling them into pretty little crescents like my mom can, how she does this I have no idea!


You bake them, and then when they are still warm you dip them in the icing/vanilla sugar. They are incredibly delicious, so much so that I had to hide them from Stephan or I would have none left for anyone else.


3.) Pfefferneusse cookies
These are a spicier cookie, and again the recipies vary throughout Germany. Everyone has their own slightly different recipes. My family's is made with nutmeg and Cinnamon, cardamon, annise seeds, pepper and candied orange and citrus peels. They are coated with an icing sugar glaze, and a few rainbow sprinkles on top. I love these cookies, Stephan is not so much a fan. These are a cookie that you either like or don't like. They are not sweet, and they are a very old-fashioned German cookie. No offense is taken if you don't like them, as I know they are quite different than what people are used to.

These cookies take quite a lot more work. You need to make the batter ahead of time and let it sit in the fridge for an hour (by the way, the ingredients are obscure. Have fun trying to find them! haha!). Then you have to roll them into these little balls, and let them sit at room temperature overnight (or in the fridge for 6-8 hours or so) so that they set. This is what they will look like:


Then you bake them, and let cool. Put on the icing sugar glaze and decorate with the sprinkles. It is also best if you let these sit a few days before serving them, so they set more. Lots of setting with these cookies!


The end result of my kitchen after 3 different cookies:

I'm back!!

Yes, I totally disappeared for a couple weeks with no word. Sorry! Stephan's work was closed for 3 weeks over the holidays, and so I had him all to myself for 3 whole weeks!! Since it was the holidays, I took some holidays from here too! (In actuality, I was too lazy to come on and post). I plan to do a few recaps from my holidays. I know holidays were actually over awhile ago, but last week I was busy finishing the final assignment for my course, and registering for the exam (which is in 2 weeks from today!)

So, course work is done, holiday laziness is over, and I'm back in action!

Can't wait to catch up with your blogs!